North America, Greenland, Ketil Attempt and Ascent of Pingasut, 1991

Ketil Attempt and Ascent of Pingasut, South Greenland, 1991. A French expedition composed of Vincent Buffin, Bruno Lambert, Emmanuel Ratouis, Isabelle ??????, Bruno Martel and Alain Hoffman climbed above Tasermiut Fjord in July of 1991. In unstable weather, they first fixed rope on 16 pitches on the lower 500 meters of the Barrard route on the 1500-meter-high west face of Ketil (2010 meters, 7595 feet). On June 6, 1991, they all bivouacked on a ledge at the end of the fixed ropes, hoping to climb the following day to the summit. The next day, they overcame many of the problems of this very serious route. At the end of 33 pitches, they felt that they had come to the end of the difficulties, but it was ten P.M. and time to bivouac. During the night, the weather went bad and they had to rappel down without reaching the summit. Buffin, Lambert, Martel and Ratouis then turned to Pingasut (1600 meters, 5250 feet), which lies between Ketil and Tasermiut Fjord. On July 20, 1991, they completed in 11 hours the ascent of the southwest face. An article, complete with photos and topos, appear on pages 64 to 69 of Vertical of July 1992.